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Topic: What part of "not at my desk" don't you get? (Read 4526 times)

Is there anything I can say to people who IM me with "Hi" and "Are you there?" and "Please log on to XYZ account, we're drowning" when my status clearly states I'm not at my desk? I've tried not responding outside work hours and saying things like "I'm unavailable before x time," as soon as my shift begins, but it doesn't seem to achieve anything. Staying signed off isn't an option, and this really, really annoys me for some reason, probably because I never IM anyone who's busy/away/offline.

If someone chooses to chat me while my status is "Away" or "Busy", I will respond to them at my leisure. I used to get really annoyed at this sort of thing, especially when people chatted me while I was in a "Busy" status. Now I just ignore them until I'm read to deal with them.

I'm not sure what the problem is. I get messages when I'm marked "not at my desk" and I just deal with them when I get back. As long as someone isn't giving me grief for not responding quickly, it's just not an issue.

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I don't think it's rude at all to IM someone who's away; it's like leaving a message on an answering machine. If you're at your desk but unavailable, then just reply when you become available again. Would you consider it rude if they saw that you were unavailable and e-mailed you the question instead? How would that be different?

Although, after looking at your example again, "please log on, we're drowning" would definitely be annoying. But "hi" or "are you there" strikes me more as "when you're free, I have a question."

I'm not sure what the problem is. I get messages when I'm marked "not at my desk" and I just deal with them when I get back. As long as someone isn't giving me grief for not responding quickly, it's just not an issue.

I'm not sure what the problem is. I get messages when I'm marked "not at my desk" and I just deal with them when I get back. As long as someone isn't giving me grief for not responding quickly, it's just not an issue.

I agree, this is how I treat it as well.

That's not how it comes across to me. I think if they were going for that they would e-mail me.

Anyway, thanks for the advice - I'm just going to ignore anything non-urgent outside of work hours.

I'm not sure what the problem is. I get messages when I'm marked "not at my desk" and I just deal with them when I get back. As long as someone isn't giving me grief for not responding quickly, it's just not an issue.

I agree, this is how I treat it as well.

That's not how it comes across to me. I think if they were going for that they would e-mail me.

Anyway, thanks for the advice - I'm just going to ignore anything non-urgent outside of work hours.

I don't get as bothered by people who chat me when I'm away, but it does drive me bonkers when they chat me when I'm "busy". But I think part of the problem is that we're automatically assuming that they're being dismissive of our status. Their train of thought could very well be "Oh, M. is busy so I know she can't help me now. I'll go ahead and ask my question and hopefully she'll get back to me when she can".

I'm trying to train myself to assume the above, so I can lessen how annoyed I get at work.

I understand. It is sort of like training ourselves to not answer the phone. Just because there is a message/call, doesn't mean we need to do anything about it right now, but there is that nagging feeling we get from inside ourselves.

Amazing how much I can stress myself even when no one else thinks it is that important to do it now.

I understand. It is sort of like training ourselves to not answer the phone. Just because there is a message/call, doesn't mean we need to do anything about it right now, but there is that nagging feeling we get from inside ourselves.

Amazing how much I can stress myself even when no one else thinks it is that important to do it now.

POD to the bolded! I constantly have to take a step back and remind myself that sometimes the only person putting pressure on me is me.